The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself.

What makes us threaten the things we want most?

I very much like people. I don't much like writers who don't.

I don't think conservativism is about a deficiency. I think it's about a commitment to an ideology that has to in some ways devalue the usefulness of empathy. I do think empathy can be learned. And enhanced.

The etiquette of blurbs means it's not hard to not blurb something (if it's not by a friend, or student): everyone knows how many books you're deluged with. You can just say you never got to it.

The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself.

I think fiction is all about the exercise of the empathetic imagination. Part of what I do is let the stuff I read about meld with what I have experienced.